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INDIA 2016 : Mango hub goes the organic way

Mango trees in full bloom at Muthalamada in Palakkad. The Ashrayam Rural Development Society has started an initiative to make value-added products from organically cultivated mangoes.–Photo: K. K. Mustafah

Value-added mango products to hit market soon

In a welcome initiative to shrug off the dubious legacy of Kerala’s mango capital Muthalamada as a toxic hub where orchards indiscriminately spray high-end pesticides on fruits, a grassroots-level initiative is now taking place with women of the panchayat getting training in processing and making value-added products using organically cultivated mangoes.

Half-a-dozen such mango-based products would hit the Kerala markets on the occasion of Vishu, the harvest festival.

“We began the initiative in Pothanpadam village by training 20 women to make pickle using both fresh mangoes and dried mangoes. They are also trained to make mango pulp, mango jam, ready-to-consume mango drinks and mango-based confectionaries. The Muthalamada Mango Farmers Association (MGFA) and leading traders in the panchayats will ensure supply of the organically grown mangoes and sale of the finished products. The products would be made available across the State in a fortnight,”said S. Guruvayurappan of Ashrayam Rural Development Society, which has taken up the initiative.

Talking to The Hindu , he said the aim of his organisation was to gradually transform Muthalamada into a fully-organic mango destination.

The mango season has just started in Muthalamada and over 300 mango growers are now marketing fully organically cultivated mangoes.

“The new initiative to make mango-based products has secured the support of even farmers and traders. Farmers lost many export orders in the recent past owing to the heavy use of pesticides and chemicals. We have also approached the State government seeking establishment of a mango research centre in Muthalamada with reputed scientists at the helm to guide us further in the organic way,”said Arumugan Pathichira, a social activist in the panchayats.

“Ashrayam is now providing training to mango farmers to develop enzymes using vegetable and fruit wastes. Mixing 3 kg of vegetable or fruit waste with 1 kg of black jaggery and 10 litres of water and keeping the mix for next 90 days would create enzyme for a normal plantation. Apart from being a killer of pests, it would also help growth of quality mangoes,’’said Mr. Guruvayurappan, who is also an expert in bio-fertilizers.

While "Flavor" is very subjective, and each country that grows mangoes is very nationalistic, these are the mango varieties that are the most sought after around the world because of sweetnesss (Brix) and demand.The Chaunsa has a Brix rating in the 22 degree level which is unheard of!Carabao claims to be the sweetest mango in the world and was able to register this in the Guiness book of world records.Perhaps it is time for a GLOBAL taste test ???

Mangaluru: Vagaries of nature is expected to take a toll on the production of King of Fruits - Mango - in Karnataka this year. A combination of failure of pre-monsoon showers at the flowering and growth stage and spike in temperature in mango growing belt of the state is expected to limit the total production of mango to an estimated 12 lakh tonnes in the current season as against 14 lakh tonnes in the last calendar year.

However, the good news for fruit lovers is that this could see price of mangoes across varieties decrease marginally by 2-3%. This is mainly on account of 'import' of the fruit from other mango-growing states in India, said M Kamalakshi Rajanna, chairperson, Karnataka State Mango Development and Marketing Corporation Ltd.

Karnataka is the third largest mango-growing state in India after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Inaugurating a two-day Vasanthotsava organized by Shivarama Karantha Pilikula Nisargadhama and the Corporation at P…